With their big philanthropic announcements last year, Microsoft's Bill Gates and Berkshire Hathaway's Warren Buffett may have been following a trend, not starting one. Companies and corporate foundations are becoming more charitable as well.

The Conference Board surveyed 211 of the largest companies and corporate foundations, and found that they gave $9.78 billion in 2005, up more than 18 from the previous year. Most of that money was spent in the US, with only $2 billion going overseas. More than half of all donations were products, rather than cash.

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But that doesn't necessarily mean companies have become more generous; they're simply making more money. As a percentage of pretax income, companies in the survey actually gave less to American charities in 2005--one per cent of their US earnings, compared with 1.6 per cent the year before.

Pharmaceutical companies, however, are far more generous than others. Perhaps because they're fighting an increasingly negative public image, drug firms in the survey reported donating 13 per cent of their US income to American charities.

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The global numbers give a slightly different picture, but drug firms still come out on top. Pharmaceutical companies donated 1.51 per cent of their worldwide sales to charity; no other sector gave more than one per cent, and many gave less than one-tenth of one per cent.

Drug companies gave the most on a per-employee basis as well: $5,585. By contrast, the media and publishing industry, which came in second place, gave only $1,549 per worker, and the third-place petroleum sector donated only $818.

Nevertheless, more companies are giving, and companies are giving more. According to the survey, which will be released to the public on Wednesday, Jan. 17, the median gift increased to $12.52 million, up from $10.73 million in 2004.

The top priority for corporate givers was health care and human services, which accounted for 44% of all contributions. Education was a distant second, attracting 12 per cent of the money. And arts, community and environmental organizations all received less than 10 per cent.

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